More bilingual signs and services can be expected over the next three years in Sarnia.
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More bilingual signs and services can be expected over the next three years in Sarnia.
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The community was designated this week under Ontario’s French Language Act, meaning provincial government offices in the city as of Nov. 1, 2024, must offer French language services.
The announcement was praised Wednesday at the Center communautaire Francophone de Sarnia-Lambton for making the community more welcoming and potentially spurring more immigration after decades of stalled population growth.
“There’s a lot of doors this will open for a lot of young people who are in French immersion today, or immigrants that have come here that will be able to maybe be more employable,” said Sarnia-Lambton MPP Bob Bailey, noting it could also help with international student recruitment at Lambton College.
Service Ontario, driver license testing, and long-term care homes are some examples of where people would be hired who speak French to meet the requirement, Bailey said.
People have been referred to London from Sarnia’s Service Ontario site in the past when French-speaking staff weren’t available, said Center communautaire Francophone president Tanya Tamilio.
She and Center culturel Jolliet vice-president Patrice Dufour started gathering support for the designation in 2018.
Bailey, Sarnia-Lambton MP Marilyn Gladu, city elected officials, businesses, the Sarnia Lambton Chamber of Commerce, Lambton College and others signed some 20 letters backing the move, Tamilio said.
In addition to the community support, areas seeking designation must have a Francophone population of 5,000 people, or 10 per cent, to qualify, she said.
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Sarnia-Lambton’s is 5,400, or about 4.2 per cent, officials said.
The designation only includes Sarnia to limit the cost of requiring services in provincial offices in Corunna, Petrolia, Grand Bend and elsewhere, she said.
How much it’s expected to cost wasn’t clear.
“I don’t know, but I think whatever it is more than worthwhile,” said Bailey, noting it could help attract French-speaking immigration from Quebec and abroad.
“It will be a real benefit to the city and the county overall.”
The designation also provides an opportunity for businesses, even though they’re not required to provide French services or signs, said chamber CEO Alan Calvert.
Posting in both languages could help make the community more welcoming to international students and laborers, and the community more competitive, he said.
“As important as this is just to our community, this is outreach to the world that we can speak more than just English,” Calvert said, “and that speaks volumes.
Sarnia is the 27th area in Ontario to be designated under the act, recently updated at Queen’s Park after 35 years.